Tag Archives: Table Saw

I have had the same fence on my table saw for most of the life of the saw. It is a bit of plywood and some UHMW plastic. The plastic has great wear and friction properties, but was never that flat.

I was looking for phenolic resin faced plywood as a replacement, but was coming up short locally. It is available at the wood stores in Orlando, but they are far and charge a boat load of money. I read about using cabinet grade plywood and applying formica to the front. That is a lot of work, and bubbles could prevent flatness.

Instead I found out my local cabinet shop sells something called “White Liner” plywood. It is nice birch plywood with a side covered in some kind of hard slick plastic. It seems pretty durable and is very smooth. I got a whole sheet for 58 bucks. Cheaper than the 1/4 sheets the wood stores were selling the phenolic stuff for.

I cut up 4 inch wide slices and doubled them up with glue to make a thick flat fence. If the face gets damaged I could probably flip it over and redo the countersinks to keep using it. I had so much material I made a pile of spares. These could be used for sacrificial fences or whatever!

The new fence is very square to the table and parallel to the blade. I have made some cuts with it, and life is good!

With nearly 2/3rd of the sheet left over I needed to get creative. I use a piece of melamine in my planer to act as a flat surface to bridge the gaps between the fold out tables. It makes for easier smoother cutting, but the inner particle board is starting to fall apart.

I cut up two pieces and glued them together using my table saw top as a good flat surface to clamp to. This is thicker than my old one, but the planer can handle up to 6 inch thick boards. No clue how I would ever get anything that thick into the planer, so I can sacrifice the depth. A curved bit of plywood on the front acts as a stoping cleat so the sliding surface stays put.

It fits well and ought to stay really flat with the added thickness and quality material. With a small touch of paste wax my planer has a new lease on life.

Miter Saw Zero Clearance Insert

Sawing with a tight fitting insert is almost always the right way to go. It supports the wood being cut and prevents the fibers from getting torn as the saw teeth punches through. The plate that comes with the saw works, but has a wide gap. I made a thin plywood insert, but they don’t last that long. This is my attempt at a 3D printed one. The original is on the right. Notice how wide the saw blade gap is. I took a picture of the original saw plate on one of those self healing cutting mats. They have good ruled lines in both directions to make sure the image didn’t get distorted.

The first print out of the gate fit really well.

I made the first cut with no wood in the way. It chopped right through the plastic and cut a self fitting slot that is just exactly the size of the blade. I might have been a little too cautious. Slow cutting built heat and there was a bit of plastic fuzz at the top edges of the cut. A little light work with a utility knife had those cleaned up. Some subsequent cuts have shown the insert to properly back the cuts.

Table Saw Organizers

I am in a near constant state of looking for pencils and rulers/tape measures. I should attach one of each to my body with a short retractable cable. Until then I try to stage as many as possible at each work station. At my table saw I made two different organizers to hold commonly used items. They both attach to the far side of my rip fence.

The white organizer holds my wooden ruler and a small stack of pencils. The pencil well could have been a touch deeper, but otherwise it works well. The yellow holder area keeps my grrripper push block. It is at a really convenient hand position for quick use when sawing.